


Sort it out (swanqueen)

by Shipsaresinking



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dorothy ships it, F/F, Gay, Henry Ships It, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Lesbian Character, Matchmaking, Ruby Ships It, Snow ships it, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swan-Mills Family, Useless Lesbians, moping, swanqueen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 14:05:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8581411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shipsaresinking/pseuds/Shipsaresinking
Summary: Emma is mopey and depressed. Regina is quiet and grumpy (not just the normal sassy kind). Ruby and Henry have had enough. They need to sort it out.





	1. Subject 1:Emma

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if I'm changing stuff for the purpose of this story and for ooc characters. Set after season 5 I guess. Ruby doesn't dissappear to the land of discarded lgbt plotlines after saving dorothy. The chapters are very short.

"So..." Emma says awkwardly as she sipped her cocoa.

"You wanted to talk?" I prompt lightly. We are sitting in the diner, it's late so there's no one around. It's past closing time, but I think she really needs this. It's not often she'll admit she's not alright.

"Yeah I do it's just... well... I don't know where to start..."

"How about whatever is got you pondering life in such a serious way?" She certainly looks confused: nose scrunched up, frowning at her drink. It's almost cute- a similar look to that of a young, disgruntled Henry.

"A lot of things I guess. Me and hook broke up for starters I think-"

"I know" I cut in.

"What d'ya mean? As in you knew we broke up or you know what I think? 'Coz you may have wolf hearing but I'm fairly sure you can't hear my mind." She's obviously upset, the joke was feeble and she knows it.

"Well I can't read your mind as interesting as I'm sure that would be..." I say raising an eyebrow "But I've got to say this breakup isn't the biggest surprise to me."

"I think in some ways I expected it to happen too" She sighs. "I didn't want it to though. I think I wanted to stay with him because it would have been easier to pretend that we could still love each other. I wasn't happy though. Neither of us were."

"I think you've known that for far too long." I say acknowledging Emma's discontentedness that has been going on for so long it almost seems natural for her to be so down. Almost.

"Maybe..." She takes a deep breath in and out and swigs the last of her cocoa before laughing drily. "I'm sorry Rubes, this got serious fast. I feel like I should be having this conversation with Archie instead of unloading onto you."

I can't help the sense that she's avoiding something else that's on her mind, but I decided to let it slide.

"I'm your friend. It's ok, I don't mind, I want you happy Ems."

"Thanks" Emma says sounding really grateful "Anyways! Enough about me, what's up with you?"

We end up heading over to my room to watch cheesy TV and catch up with each other, it's been far too long. Though she definitely still has stuff bothering her she seems to be letting loose. Sleep claims us in the early hours of the morning and we slumber with the TV still playing. We wake late the next day, but luckily I don't have to be at the diner until later and we part with promises to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am ScatteredWanderings on Wattpad.


	2. Subject 2:Henry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry seems to have something on his mind

When I find Henry he's in a similar position to his mum; looking intrigued but dejected all the same. He is also sitting alone, this time on a bench in the park and his cocoa is in a take-away cup, long gone cold. I sit down beside him, not touching him, but close enough. I swap his cup for the warm one in my hands. "Hey Henry."

"Mhhhmmm" he murmurs in response and continues staring blankly reaching to take a sip from his drink.

"Watch out! It's-"

"Ah" Henry exclaims, startled and tongue burnt.

"Hot." I finish too late.

"Yeah..." He mumbles, trying to find some composure. It's times like this that I forget how much he has grown, a teen now and in a few years a man. Sometimes he's still Regina's little boy with the wild imagination. Of course to me he soon became Regina and Emma's boy and that wild imagination soon became less crazy and made an awful lot more sense.

"Hi Ruby, sorry I was just a bit..." He paused unsure what to say.

"Zoned out?"

"Yeah I guess so." He pauses collecting his thoughts before continuing.

"Thanks for the drink."

"No problem, you like cocoa a whole lot more than me."

"Yes , but the thought is nice."

"You're welcome." Henry seems to want to say something, but he isn't sharing.

"What's wrong?" I say wanting to find out what had made him so distracted.

"Not much."

"Are you sure?"

"I mean there is this one thing."

"And you're worried?"

"A bit I suppose."

He really isn't helping much here. "Is it school? Friends? Girls?"

"NO." He abruptly stops me there. He sighs, "It's my mom."

"Which one?" This happens a lot he really needs to call them different things.

"Both actually."

"Oh?"

"They just won't stop it and it's just really frustrating."

"Wait a second" He lost me back there. I tip my head to the side pushing my hair off of my face. "Won't stop what?"

"You must have noticed; you're good at people and those two are, although well practised, not amazing at hiding things."

I have to agree with him there. "So this is about their contagious mopiness right?"

"It's driving me crazy I swear and they don't talk about their feelings to me, probably not even to anyone, that's not healthy. I think maybe they don't even realise quite how miserable they are."

What Henry is saying makes so much sense I agree entirely. There's just one thing. "Why?"

"That's what I am currently wondering, I have an idea or two but I'm unsure."

"Emma is obviously in turmoil over the break up though it's more I'm sure."

"And mum is trying to sort out everything" He continues "you know with the whole being good, doing her job as well as having a life."

"Yes." I nod, slowly coming to new realisations.

"But that's the problem. It's the life bit that she isn't doing so great at; I reckon she needs a little fun."

We lock gazes, determination mirrored on our faces and cheeks rosy from the cold.

"I think we know what it's time for." I say solemnly.

"A new operation." Henry says, his expression mirroring mine.

"Are you sure you don't think you're too mature or old for this?"

"Well you're doing aren't you?"

"Okay, rude. Also true. Let's do this. We need a name that I can call it in my head." I know I'll just get incredibly confused otherwise.

"How about... maybe... operation armadillo?"

Oooh. Is that because they have shells and they can run away super fast kinda like your mom's defensiveness and stuff?"

"I just like armadillos, but let's go with that."

Typical. "So we have to do this now huh?"

"We're gonna sort out mom's life and mom's life out."

He really needs to call them different things. "Henry..."

"I know I really need to call them different things."

"You really do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you want me to continue as I am very unmotivated.


	3. Operation Armadillo: Mom(Regina)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Armadillo begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes and if Henry sounds odd this is just how I decided to write him.

 

Me and Ruby have now began our new mission 'Operation Armadillo'. I'm glad we can do something because we will make them happier and they will be doing less shuffling and fidgeting and sighing and denying and general being-boringiness. Did I just create a word? Yes. Am I too old for this? Probably. Am I enjoying this? Most definitely.  
I have created a few checklists, graphs and plans with titles like: mom's path to happiness, measuring current mom mopiness, contributing factors to mom's feeling of overall shittiness. I like having 'ness' on the end of words.

After lots of thought I decided that the main factors of Regina's misery are:  
1\. Loneliness.

2\. Uncertainty of where she stands within our weird family.

3\. Lack of self worth due to guilt and an evil past, the feeling that she doesn't deserve to be happy so she isn't.

I think the best solution is to discover her problems and let her be open about them and get her a date to help with the whole loneliness thing.  
Yes I know this is a very deep, very accurate analysis of my mother. I'm quite proud. Then again, I spent my whole life with her so I should be able to read her. She's supposed to be good at concealing her emotions or whatever, but Ruby and I can easily see her wallowing. Honestly? It's a bit pathetic. Nevertheless, I love my mother (and planning missions) very much so I am starting operation armadillo (don't laugh) today.

Aha there she is. I have been looking for mom (Regina) everywhere.  
"Mom!" I call out to her. She is sitting at the end of her garden, seeming to stare at nothing, deep in thought.  
I come and sit down on the bench next to her. It is still fairly new, mom was given it, from the grandma I think and Emma came over to help put it up. Unfortunately she overestimated her furniture building skills (not for the first time either) and used a whole day, four different screwdrivers; as she kept breaking them and 10 youtube tutorials before it was finally finished. Mom asked August to check it over but I didn't tell mom that. Emma that is. I really need to call them different things.

Mom looks over at me and shakes herself from her daze. "Hey Henry, what are you thinking about?"

"Mom. And her bench building skills." At this she cracks a smile. "Or lack of." I add. She seems to be thinking again "What about you?" I ask, pulling her off of what was sure to be a long thought train.

"Emma as well actually." She glances at her prized apple tree, "Remember when Emma cut a branch of my tree off with a chainsaw?"

"Errrrr back when you hated each other? How could I forget."

"Hmmm... yeah. I wanted to kill her so much..." She murmurs, clearly heading back into her reminiscing. It's funny, the way she talks of their past differences almost fondly and she has such a genuine look on her face now that I can nearly ignore the bags under her eyes and the unhealthy dullness of her skin. Not quite though. This brings me back to the task at hand.

"So mom," I start "How are you?"

"Oh I'm fine why don't you tell me about your day and then if you want you could help me do some baking?

I can envision my mission being replaced by quality mom time and apple flavoured goods so I decide to include some research in our chat.  
"Okay" I place my hand on the back of the bench and tell her random things about my day as I know she sometimes just wants to talk about nothing in particular. I lean my head on mom's shoulder "So what have you been doing?"

"Work of course."

"Outside of work you know what I mean."

"You're with me most of the time anyway.

"But not always. Do you ever think about I dunno..."

"If your going to say gettting a social life stop right there." Mom raises her eyebrows in a mock serious manner.

"Well that or you know join a club or start dating or-"

"Are you trying to find out if I'm  interested in someone?" She says in the same teasing way.

"Are you?"

"I don't want to date anyone Henry." Mom suddenly sounds very stubborn.

"Okay mom chill." We sit for a minute longer before she speaks.

"Do you want me to get a boyfriend?" She seems a bit worried.

"Of course not, I just want you to be happy."

"Okay." She sighs "Gosh this conversation feels like a bit of a role switch."

"A little bit." I chuckle.

"Will you be at Emma's tonight?"

"Me and mom are going to grandma and grandpa's for dinner. It's a thing remember? I should be sleeping here though." She now has her grumpy, sad, confusing, worry face on. Yes ALL of those words are necessary.

"You don't have to its a lot of running around."

"Oh I don't mind." this is a good chance to help with mom's place within the family thing. "In fact I bet there's loads to go around you could come eat with us too."

"I wouldn't want to impose." She is slipping a mask back on, I can tell by the evenness of her voice, she doesn't want to get emotionally involved which just goes to show she already is.

"You know they wouldn't mind."

A small smile is back on her face.  
"I have a lot of work to do, but I'll come pick you up."

Mom comes to collect me and she appears happier so maybe the plan is working or maybe she got some stressful work out of the way. She looks at my other mom weirdly especially when she hands her a piece of leftover pie. It's hard to know what they were thinking, but they both had the same look unconsciously on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know when I'll finish this. Please leave feedback/comments as this is my first fanfiction.


End file.
